Great get by Pete. That vid was previously posted about a year ago. Someone in that thread said that Pete trained with an NFL cornerback trainer and that Pete was clocked at 4.3 in the 40. If true, that's Deion Sanders speed.

Great get by Pete. That vid was previously posted about a year ago. Someone in that thread said that Pete trained with an NFL cornerback trainer and that Pete was clocked at 4.3 in the 40. If true, that's Deion Sanders speed.

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Also heard Brad Gilbert say Nadal had 4.2 speed, was this Gilbert hyperbole or fact? Lets say both very fast. Also court coverage entails anticipation not just raw speed.

Petros was insanely fast, strong and athletic. He just moderated it well with his personality. He was calm and collected between points and would only go full out when he felt it was worth the expenditure. After he was up a break or two in a set he’d even tank some games so he could wrap it up quicker on his serve. That made him look lethargic but when he went full out he was a beast.

4.3 for Sampras is pushing credibility to its limit. 4.2 is probably an unofficial World record and is beyound credulity. BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

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Again not disputing that Gilbert often exaggerates, but a few NFL/College players have been timed at the 4.2ish 40 yd time. Rocket Ishmail ( Notre Dame) had such speed. Leshawn Jackson( Eagles) also in this range.

as said before, sampras was definitely a great athlete. in fact, i think if he had been a track and field olympian, he would be a hurdler. he jumped quite well aside from running pretty fast.

as athletic as federer, nadal and djokovic are, i still think sampras is a slightly better pure athlete. i think nadal is stronger and has great footwork technique for slow courts, so he can get to lots of shots and bat them back with pace. djokovic is more flexible so he can run down lots of balls and use his smooth stroking technique from the waist up to send back quality shots, even if his lower body seems all over the place. federer might be a more instinctive mover on the court, with slightly better anticipation and coordination. but i think that in a pure sprint, sampras still edges all of them slightly. sampras doesn't need to rely too much on pure physical strength or flexibility to get to lots of balls.

He doesn't have the flexibility of Djokovic, the footwork of Federer or the willingness to throw his body all over the court like Nadal, but I believe he is the most 'explosive' athlete among these four players, especially in terms of vertical leap and raw acceleration. Of course none of us have definitive proof in front of us (tennis isn't athletics!) but this is my inclination.

Funnily enough, I was watching this exact video with a friend on Friday night while having a smoke The point at 3:20 is mind-boggling, watching Sampras accelerate to hit the backhand is like a blur... had to be replayed several times over I recall..

Imagine Nadal in the same position - we have seen him sprint the full width of the court and curl a forehand down the line many a time, but it is usually made on the run, skidding into the shot, with his arm doing most of the work. What gets me about the Sampras clip is that he seems to get there in enough time to actually stop himself and plant both of his feet before hitting the backhand.

The guys that you fear of their court coverage are those that don't look like they're moving fast at all but seem to casually get to everything in plenty of time to set up and hit rather than having to hit out on the full run. I saw Sampras play live several times at court level and he definitely fell in this category. Borg was maybe the finest or fastest that I've personally seen and of course Hewett and Nadal were/are no slouch.

He doesn't have the flexibility of Djokovic, the footwork of Federer or the willingness to throw his body all over the court like Nadal, but I believe he is the most 'explosive' athlete among these four players, especially in terms of vertical leap and raw acceleration. Of course none of us have definitive proof in front of us (tennis isn't athletics!) but this is my inclination.

Funnily enough, I was watching this exact video with a friend on Friday night while having a smoke The point at 3:20 is mind-boggling, watching Sampras accelerate to hit the backhand is like a blur... had to be replayed several times over I recall..

Imagine Nadal in the same position - we have seen him sprint the full width of the court and curl a forehand down the line many a time, but it is usually made on the run, skidding into the shot, with his arm doing most of the work. What gets me about the Sampras clip is that he seems to get there in enough time to actually stop himself and plant both of his feet before hitting the backhand.

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Good observation. For anyone who doubts Sampras' athleticism watch the video again and only watch his feet. Not only is it impeccable footwork but his first three steps to the ball is pure explosion. He seemed to accelerate faster and more smoothly than anyone on a hard-court at that time.

The guys that you fear of their court coverage are those that don't look like they're moving fast at all but seem to casually get to everything in plenty of time to set up and hit rather than having to hit out on the full run. I saw Sampras play live several times at court level and he definitely fell in this category. Borg was maybe the finest or fastest that I've personally seen and of course Hewett and Nadal were/are no slouch.

Yep, even M Jordan commented how well Pete was conditioned. In pure athleticism Pete >>> Nadal. Pete was natural and had very 'thick' muscles whereas Nadal is more watery and soft. His moved like a fluid and stayed very low to the ground. Nadal covers the court beautifully but looks very erratic and choppy. Federer is in different league altogether. Nole is Gumby

Yep, even M Jordan commented how well Pete was conditioned. In pure athleticism Pete >>> Nadal. Pete was natural and had very 'thick' muscles whereas Nadal is more watery and soft. His moved like a fluid and stayed very low to the ground. Nadal covers the court beautifully but looks very erratic and choppy. Federer is in different league altogether. Nole is Gumby

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like i said, sampras was a natural athlete. it's easy to imagine him doing track and field - hurdling or sprinting, in particular. nadal might be a decathlete.

nole and federer are great athletes too, but it's not as easy to imagine them doing track and field. maybe the 400, 400 hurdles or 800 running events. or maybe nole could be a high jumper, as that discipline seems to require a lean, lithe build with a lot of flexibility and springiness.

with roger, it's easier to imagine him as something else - a figure skater perhaps. it's not hard to picture him nailing quad and triple jumps effortlessly. people keep saying how graceful and elegant he is. those are the qualities of a great figure skater, right?

with roger, it's easier to imagine him as something else - a figure skater perhaps. it's not hard to picture him nailing quad and triple jumps effortlessly. people keep saying how graceful and elegant he is. those are the qualities of a great figure skater, right?

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I remember hearing that Roger was an outstanding soccer player as a kid. He had to pick one sport or the other but from what it seems, he would have been a solid pro in soccer.

I remember hearing that Roger was an outstanding soccer player as a kid. He had to pick one sport or the other but from what it seems, he would have been a solid pro in soccer.

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i heard about that story too. a lot of the european players play soccer. but, yes, if roger had gone to team sports, soccer would be the one where he would most likely excel. on the other hand, if sampras had gone to team sports, maybe he could be a basketball player.

when we talk of athletic ability, we think of sports that really measure it - and these are sports that we see in the olympics. there's a reason why track and field is also called athletics. because these disciplines require pure athletic ability. whether we talk about power (throwing events), explosiveness (sprints, hurdles, jumping events), speed (sprints) or stamina (distance running and hurdling) - these are characteristics that we see in track and field.

for these reasons, i thought of the different track and field disciplines to compare the athletic abilities of sampras and today's top players. but with roger, he had something else - grace and elegance. plus the fact that he is often described as a metrosexual, so that's the reason why i thought of figure skating instead of athletics.

The guys that you fear of their court coverage are those that don't look like they're moving fast at all but seem to casually get to everything in plenty of time to set up and hit rather than having to hit out on the full run.

It is ridiculous that people claim that Djokovic/Nadal-like speed has never been seen in tennis before...

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Agassi was no slouch himself in the foot-speed department. Many have remarked that he was, at times, nearly as fast as speed/agility demon, Michael Chang. Other speed demons of the past include Borg, Hewitt, Blake, Federer and Davydenko.

Of the current crop of speedsters, you should also include Monfils, Murray, and Björn Phau.

i would actually put graf slightly ahead of navratilova. if we're including the women, i think she is the best ever in terms of pure athletic ability.

i think becker and rafter are physically similar to nadal. people just don't tend to think of them as similar because the playing styles are so different.

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Steffi's work rate on court was unparalleled, but I gave the nod to Martina based on her doubles output. Martina was always playing two draws at once (often going deep in both)--singles and doubles, always.
Not so with Steffi. Steffi's top gear in singles was the best, however, it was positively frightening how athletic she was.

Also heard Brad Gilbert say Nadal had 4.2 speed, was this Gilbert hyperbole or fact? Lets say both very fast. Also court coverage entails anticipation not just raw speed.

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That's absurd. 4.2 is as fast as any NFL player playing today. Neither Pete or Rafa are even close to being that fast. Gael Monfils is faster than both of them -- of course, out of all top 10 players in the open era, he has some of the poorest shot selection, so that negates it pretty well.

It is ridiculous that people claim that Djokovic/Nadal-like speed has never been seen in tennis before.

Some extra fun info about the vid:

-Go to 2:10 to see Sampras's feet completely miss the ground.
-Returning Clinic by Sampras.

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To the OP, Sampras was running to his right even before the ball got to Agassi. He guessed that Agassi would go to the open court and ran to cover it. Agassi went for the open court and Sampras was able to get there. Don't see anything particularly amazing speed-wise. A good get on Sampras' part.

To the OP, Sampras was running to his right even before the ball got to Agassi. He guessed that Agassi would go to the open court and ran to cover it. Agassi went for the open court and Sampras was able to get there. Don't see anything particularly amazing speed-wise. A good get on Sampras' part.

I don't see that the video was sped up. Even in the 90's they were hitting hard and running fast. Either of those two guys could play today and do well.

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Yeah,you are right.There was nothing particularly amazing about that get.

The video is sped up a little because the guy who uploaded it really distorted the aspect ratio. Here is the same point I was talking about in a video that has not been badly distorted.

In the very 1st video the image is stretched. It is not sped up. The mercedes logo on the net is a slight oval because the video has been stretched to fill up the youtube video.
It makes Sampras look like hes running faster and makes everyone look a little beefier and chunkier. Any other youtube videos from of tennis from 1990s in widescreen may also be stretched.